China GM import approvals, IARC shenanigans, and what comes from brown cows? – news for week of June 19

News items related to ag tech, biotech, trade – and perhaps some other interesting items out there related to agriculture – will be posted on this page throughout the week (as the week progresses newest items will be in green at bottom of sections). Be sure to come back and check the page during the week.

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Oh my. It does beg the question how the question was asked in the survey though:

“Seven percent of all American adults believe that chocolate milk comes from brown cows… that works out to 16.4 million misinformed, milk-drinking people. The equivalent of the population of Pennsylvania (and then some!)… the most surprising thing about this figure may actually be that it isn’t higher.” – Link

And, then looking at the need for further public eduction on food and agriculture, the movie Food Evolution narrated by Neil deGrasse Tyson makes its debut this week:

“The decision announced Wednesday affects genetically engineered corn and soybean varieties developed by Dow Chemical Co. and Monsanto Co. It comes after Beijing agreed to speed reviews of biotechnology applications as part of a trade deal with the Trump administration last month.” – Link

POLICY, REGULATORY, ACTIVISM, OTHER:

“The World Health Organization’s cancer agency says a common weedkiller is “probably carcinogenic.” The scientist leading that review knew of fresh data showing no cancer link – but he never mentioned it and the agency did not take it into account…. The IARC review “ignored multiple years of additional data from the largest and most comprehensive study on farmer exposure to pesticides and cancer.”” – Link

“…scientists who examined the IARC monograph itself found themselves taken aback, even shocked, at the way in which some of the findings had been presented. Indeed, as one leading scientist said, they got this “totally wrong” and pointed to the clearly biased selection of studies IARC reviewed…” – Link

“Arla Foods has been ordered to halt its new $30m ‘Live Unprocessed’ ad campaign – which makes a virtue of using milk from cows that have not been fed the growth hormone rBST – in the wake of legal action* filed by rbST maker Eli Lilly (Elanco).” – Link

PETA and HSUS End the Week In Crosshairs – Drovers – By Sara Brown (June 16)

“Livestock producers often find themselves the target for Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) and People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), but this week marked two instances where these organizations were the ones in the crosshairs instead.” – Link

“A plan that the Obama administration developed to reform USDA’s biotechnology regulatory process could wind up stifling innovation instead of making it easier to get low-risk products to market, the plan’s intended goal, according to farmers, agribusiness groups and the biotech industry.” – Link